Hegemonic Masculinities. The Construction of the Militarized Masculine Body in the European Union Context.

Abstract

The thesis explored the hypothesis “whether the militarized masculine body could be considered as one of the types of Hegemonic Masculinities and if yes, what are the main characteristics that validate this notion?” The research project was partially inspired by one of the most significant books, considering the Western Studies of Masculinities, namely Masculinities by Connell (2005). Connell (2005) paid substantial attention to developing the categorical analysis within the Studies of Western Masculinities. The scholar focused on developing the concepts, namely: hegemonic, subordinate, complicit, and marginalized masculinities. The concept of hegemonic masculinities became the relevant lenses to study masculinities in general and it was the main analytic lens that I deployed to study my chosen case study. The main case study of the thesis became the Militarized Masculine Body within the context of four European Union countries, namely: Lithuania, the Netherlands, Greece, and Germany. In other words, I explored if the Western Militarized Masculine Body could be considered an exemplary type of hegemonic masculinities, which characteristics are outlined by scholars like Connell (2005) in her book Masculinities.

The semi-structured style of interviews was chosen as the main methodology of the thesis. I focused on the professionals who have direct working experience related to the sector of the military within the four European Union countries. The interview guide comprised of main five parts which mainly asked the interviewees to reflect on their personal as well as professional (working) experience related to ideal masculinities, militarism, the concept of Western and Militarized Men as well as the different identities having people integration to militarism, such as women, LGBTIQ+ people. The thesis was written in a way that the theoretical scientific information would be brought into dialogue together with the empirical part of the thesis.